The Abduction of Ganymede

In classical poetry Ganymede is described as a beautiful youth, who was much loved by the gods as a cup-bearer. Jupiter himself had fallen in love with the boy, and after assuming the form of an eagle had kidnapped him from the Trojan plains. The painting has been interpreted in quite different ways: humanists saw the childlike pure soul loved by God in the figure of the small child Ganymede, while the motif of urination was believed to emphasize Ganymede's second nature as the zodiac sign Aquarius, the water bearer, who called for the growth of vegetation, other theories concentrate in the cherries.